


A Soul to Burn

by Yessica



Series: Whumptober 2020 Yessica Edition [9]
Category: Over the Garden Wall (Cartoon & Comics)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Self-Sacrifice, Whumptober 2020, Wirt makes a bad decision
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:48:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26916121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yessica/pseuds/Yessica
Summary: Wirt takes a bad deal. Greg wakes up in the woods without his brother.(Whumptober day 9 - For The Greater Good)
Series: Whumptober 2020 Yessica Edition [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949233
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	A Soul to Burn

The woods had become darker than they were before.

Wirt didn't really remember much from being here, even though he knew this is where they started. It also was where they ended but it felt like they had been on the road for days, only going in circles. The cold was pulling at his veins, dragging him down into icy depths and the snow was everywhere. The trees had tangled around Greg's limbs.

He tried pulling them loose, Beatrice's panicked voice urging him on, but no matter how much effort he put into it they would not budge. Leaves red like blood sprouted from the branches and Greg was as pale as Wirt had ever seen him. Pale like he'd imagine a corpse to be.

He pulled harder but only succeeded in tearing his skin open on the sharp pieces of bark.

"Somebody isn't playing by the rules," The Beast mused, voice overlapping with many others. Its shape moved fluidly like ink. And where it stood the forest only looked darker still. "Gregory knew how to follow my rules."

Wirt ignored it, stepped over to the unmoving body of the woodsman and his axe abandoned on the ground. He picked it up with unsteady hands, but didn't know where to begin cutting. He was so scared to somehow do it wrong and hurt Greg. He had already done enough of that for one night. The edelwood tree oozed pure black – darkness like The Beast.

"I did tell you both there is only one way to win _this_ game," it said.

Shaking his head, Wirt dropped the axe again. Greg's eyes were half-lidded, dull and glassed over like he wasn't entirely there. Wirt touched his face and there was no heat, no life.

The Beast flitted around him in the way a shadow would flicker in candlelight. "There is but one thing you can do to save your brother, Wirt."

"Shut up!" he yelled, but it was too dark to think, too cold to breathe. It held the lantern gingerly, as if its mere presence could burn it. The flames sparked wildly, the vague outline of movement in the fire. Wirt pressed his hands against the side of Greg's throat, but what remained of a pulse was slow and weak. He could feel it slipping away beneath his very fingertips.

"He will die," The Beast promised.

"I'll do it!" Wirt said then, urgently. It was either the freezing gale or his own anger making him shake, but he didn't care. The only thing that mattered was getting Greg out of here, keeping him safe, keeping him _alive-_

Greg was only in this position because Wirt had been a terrible brother so far.

Even without a mouth, it was like he could feel The Beast grinning at him. It held out the lantern, swaying side to side in the breeze, and the flame was dying down, small pieces of ember sticking to the inside of the glass. "Your decision," it said.

Wirt nodded and grabbed the handle.

* * *

Greg woke up to somebody calling his name. He blinked rapidly, rubbing at his face with his hands. The snow was stinging his eyes, painful and making his vision foggy. That voice kept calling for him and finally, he recognized who it was.

"Beatrice?"

The girl that stood above him did not look like the Beatrice he knew. She was a human – not a bird – with freckles on her cheeks and long red strands that fell loosely along her shoulder, having escaped the bun that kept the rest of her hair in place. She was wearing a short-sleeved blue dress, and the icy wind was making goosebumps on her flesh.

Greg felt so cold.

"Greg, please-" Her face reminded him of his mother, worried wrinkles and anxious eyes. He smiled at her, to show her he was okay. "Just say something."

He tried to talk, but his throat was clogged with filth and it led him to cough violently instead. Beatrice helped him onto his knees and Greg retched up soil and water, leaves with specks of blood. When it was finally over, he could raise his head to look at her. "Where's Wirt?"

Beatrice bit her lip, and that reminded Greg of his mother too when she was going to tell him something that wasn't true. Adults tell you not to lie, but they lie a lot themselves. They lie all the time. He felt tears well up in his eyes but refused to let them spill over.

"I don't know," she said eventually. It was still too dark to see much beyond the clearing and Greg felt like he couldn't move his body. It was weighed down by something solid – roots in the ground. With every passing moment the feeling faded, but he wanted to find his brother _now_.

"Where did he go?"

Beatrice shook her head. "I don't know that either, Greg. I think he might-" She swallowed, as if just saying it out loud was dangerous. "I think he might have made a mistake."

Greg tried his hardest to get up. Both his legs felt like they did after long car trips, pinpricks all over as if there were no bones in them. He was sitting in the snow, his pants getting wet with it, but he didn't care about that.

He only cared about making it up to Wirt.

"We have to go help him then," he said, picking up the teakettle from beside him. It had half filled up with the storm, so he turned it upside down to empty it and put it on his head.

"I don't think we can, Greg," Beatrice answered.

"What do you mean?" His arms were freezing, but he could lift them at least and used that to hold onto Beatrice and try and get on his feet. He immediately fell back onto his butt. "You're a human again, you can help too. We can go get Wirt together so we can go home."

"No, Greg!" Beatrice shook him and it hurt a little. But Greg did not want her to know how much pain he was in so he put up a brave face, like when you go to the doctor. "You're not listening to me! Wirt did something bad and he's gone now. That thing took him."

He frowned. "No, I... I made a deal with it, I caught the sun."

He did everything the way he was supposed to do it. He had been a good brother and did his best to keep Wirt safe. This wasn't fair.

Suddenly Greg felt the tears roll down his cheeks. Beatrice wiped them away, gentle though her voice was firm. "It tricked you, Greg. I'm so sorry."

"No!" he repeated, louder. His dad always told him that throwing a tantrum didn't help any, but Greg didn't know what else to do. His legs finally felt like they could work again, and he used Beatrice's shoulders as support to force himself to stand. Something was still clogging his throat, making it hard to breathe. "No, we need to go-"

"Greg!" Beatrice's human hand felt like a vice around his wrist, holding him back. She had stood up now and she was so tall Greg had to angle his head up to look at her. "We need to get you home. I don't know how much longer you can stay."

"Stay?"

She was pulling him towards the trees, away from the clearing. He could see a dot of light in the distance. "In this world," Beatrice clarified. "You must know by now."

Greg coughed again and tasted the riverbed on his tongue.

"If we don't get you home soon, you might not be able to go back at all." Beatrice kneeled down again, probably realizing she would get nowhere if he wasn't cooperating. "We have to go."

Shaking his head even more, Greg pulled back a little and she let go of his wrist. "What about Wirt?"

"I-" Beatrice looked away. Her eyes were light blue, just as her feathers used to be. "I don't think we'd be able to get him in time. He wouldn't want you to stay. He wanted you to live."

Another step back. "What about what _I_ want?"

"It doesn't _matter_ what you want!" She tried to make another grab for him but this time Greg was quicker. He had a lot of practice, making mom chase him around the house when he didn't want to take a bath. At school, he was one of the fastest kids on the playground. Beatrice's eyes widened, she could probably tell what he was about to do.

He was already on the other side of the clearing from her. "I'm not leaving without Wirt."

"Greg!" She tried calling out to him but he ignored her. He started running, lungs straining for air – drowning. He couldn't hear her footsteps in the snow, or if she was following him, but he wouldn't risk slowing down.

He was going to help his brother.

That was the only thought in Greg's mind as he ran off into the darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> Technically this would be the start of an AU I never got around to writing but it made a good oneshot too. Let me know what you think?
> 
> [my Tumblr](http://sharada-n.tumblr.com/)


End file.
